Apparatus for molding on carrier strip material

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for molding a plastic cap onto a pre-formed metallic shank includes a shank insertion device for inserting the shank onto a carrier member such that a head of the shank is elevated above the carrier member. A molding device, having an open mold cavity engages the carrier member such that the carrier member acts as a portion of the mold. A contour forming device can be used to form raised contours in said carrier member prior to the insertion of said shanks at said shank insertion device. A feeder mechanism is provided for drawing the carrier member through the contour forming device, the shank insertion device, and the molding device.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 562,931, filed 8/6/90,now abandoned, which is a division of application Ser. No. 444,298,filed 12/1/89, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to button forming and more particularly toinjection molding a button head on a preformed metallic shank.

Providing buttons having a preformed shank consisting of one or moreprotruding legs to be inserted into a second button part, and a headportion covered with a plastic material are well known in the art. Forexample, such a button construction is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,320which describes a method for forming such a plastic covered button byfirst preforming the button shank and also preforming the plastic headcovering and then subsequently snapping the head covering onto the head.Such an arrangement has many disadvantages. First, precise tolerancesmust be maintained between the size of the metallic head and the openingpreformed in the plastic covering to assure that the plastic headcovering will in fact snap onto the head and be retained thereon. If themetallic head is too large or the opening is too small, the cap will noteasily be inserted onto the metallic head. If the metallic head is toosmall or the cap opening too large, the cap will not be retained on thehead. Further, forming both the metallic portion and plastic portion asseparate pieces and later joining them results in assembly difficultiesin requiring that the small plastic caps be oriented and held preciselyin order to cause them to be snapped onto the metallic heads.

Additionally, the metallic head must be symmetric (round) in order to beeasily assembled with the plastic cap. It would be very difficult orimpossible to assemble the shank head as it exists to a plastic cap.Surrounding the shank head with plastic as taught by the presentinvention is an excellent way to hold the shank head in the plastic cap.

Finally, the shank geometry makes it impossible to "insert mold" thisitem according to known molding methods. The only way to effectivelyseal the shank leg in the molding operation is to pierce a metal stripwith the shank leg, as now taught by the present invention, thuseffecting a seal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide new and improvedmethods and apparatuses wherein all of the drawbacks of the prior arthave been overcome.

It is a further object of the invention to provide new and improvedmethods and apparatuses wherein preformed button shanks of a button canbe retained easily by a mold during the process of injection molding.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide new andimproved methods and apparatuses wherein the preformed shanks of thebutton can be retained by a mold which is completely sealed againstleakage of molten plastic during the process of injection molding.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide new andimproved methods and apparatuses wherein the preformed shanks of thebutton can be retained very easily.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide new andimproved methods and apparatuses wherein continuous injection moldingcan be carried out.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide new andimproved methods and apparatuses wherein mass-production of cappedbuttons can be effected.

These and other objects of the present invention are achieved in thatthe present invention provides new and improved methods and apparatuseswhereby preformed metallic shanks are covered with plastic headcoverings in an injection molding step wherein the cap is moldeddirectly onto the head portion of the preformed button shank such thatno separate assembly step between the plastic cap and metal head isrequired.

Not only does this assembly method avoid the necessity of assembling thetwo preformed pieces as in the prior art, such an assembly procedurealso obviates the need for maintaining precise tolerances in that thecap will be molded directly to the preformed metallic head regardless ofthe size of the metallic head. This will assure that the plastic capwill always be retained on the metallic head and, since the plasticmaterial can be molded completely or at least partially around themetallic head, the possibility of separation of the cap and metal shankwill be completely avoided. In order to perform the assembly and moldingprocess, the metallic shanks are preformed, the preferred embodimenthaving a shank with two tapered legs or prongs joined by an enlargedhead. A carrier member of strip material is utilized not only to carrythe preformed shank portion of the button to the molding station, but italso forms a portion of the mold and seals the two tapered legs.

The invention provides a method for forming a plastic capped shank froma metallic shanked member having a head portion and a leg portion,comprising the steps of inserting the leg portion of the member into acarrier member such that at least a part of the head portion of theshanked member is elevated above the carrier member and the leg portionis sealed for molding purposes by the carrier member; covering the headportion with a mold cavity which engages the carrier member such thatthe carrier member forms a portion of the mold; injecting a plasticmaterial into a mold cavity to encompass at least said elevated part ofthe head portion of the shank to form a capped shank; disengaging themold cavity from the carrier member to expose the capped shank; andremoving the capped shank from the carrier member.

The invention also provides an apparatus for applying a plastic cap to ashank, wherein said shank has a head and at least one leg comprising asupply of strip material; a shank insertion device having means forinserting said legs of said shanks into said strip material such that atleast a portion of said heads of said shanks ar elevated above saidraised contours; a molding device having means for molding plastic capsonto said elevated heads of said shanks; and means for drawing saidstrip material from said supply and feeding it to shank insertion deviceand molding device.

The invention also provides a capped shank which can be formed by theabove method and apparatus comprising a head portion; a leg portion anda plastic cap portion molded onto and at least partially encapsulatingsaid head portion.

More specifically, a thin metallic strip of material may be used as thecarrier member in an embodiment wherein the strip material is suppliedin a large roll and is fed into a first preforming station whichoptionally stamps a contour into the strip material in the form of araised circular area and, preferably, forms four such contours at onetime in the strip material in a 2×2 matrix. The strip material is thenindexed toward a shank insertion device which feeds four preformedshanks into a retaining head. The retaining head is reciprocated towardand away from the strip material. The preformed shanks are driven intothe raised areas on the strip material by the insertion device andreleased such that the head of each shank is positioned slightly abovethe raised circular portion of the strip material with the legsprotruding through such circular portion. The tapered nature of the legsholds the shanks securely in position on the raised portions. The stripmaterial is then indexed to a molding device which includes an open moldcavity reciprocable toward and away from the strip material. When themold is moved down into engagement with the strip material, the moldcavities overlie the raised portions on the strip material and a plasticmaterial is injected into the mold cavity to surround the elevated headportion of the shank and to form the cap portion of the button.

Subsequently the mold is moved away from the strip material and thestrip material is indexed toward a removal station where the buttons areremoved from the strip material for further use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the various apparatus used inmanufacturing a button head molded on a shank carried by a stripmaterial embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the strip material shaping stationshown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the strip material shaping device takengenerally along the line III--III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the strip material shaping device takengenerally along the line IV--IV of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the shank insertion device of FIG.1.

FIG. 6 is a front sectional view of the insertion device of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the insertion device taken generally alongthe line VII--VII of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of a completed button.

FIG. 8a is a side sectional view of a completed button using analternative shank as shown in FIGS. 12a-13b.

FIG. 9 is a side sectional view of the molding operation with the moldcovering the metallic shank and engaging the strip material.

FIG. 9a is a side sectional view of the molding operation with the moldcovering the alternative metallic shank of FIGS. 12a-13b and engagingthe strip material.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the strip material with the button shankinserted.

FIG. 10a is a sectional view of the strip material with the alternativebutton shank of FIGS. 12a-13b inserted.

FIG. 11 is a side sectional view of the contoured strip material.

FIGS. 12a-13b are schematic perspective and sectional views ofalternative embodiments of a button shank in which the present inventionmay be embodied.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In FIG. 1 there is illustrated a series of devices useful in molding aplastic button head onto a metallic button shank through the use of acarrier strip material. A roll 20 of strip material 24 is rotatablycarried on a support frame 22 such that the strip material 24 can bedrawn from the roll by means of a feeder mechanism 26 which clampinglyengages the strip material 24 and incrementally and intermittently pullsit from the roll 20 and pushes it toward an optional strip materialcontour forming device 28 in discrete movements of a start and stopfashion. Preferably the strip material is sufficiently thick so as tohold its shape during the forming and molding steps described below.

The strip material contour forming or shaping device 28 is also shown indetail in FIGS. 2-4 and generally comprises a press member having a flywheel 30 for storing energy to be used in the forming process. When thestrip material 2 is incrementally indexed into the contour formingdevice 28, an upper ram portion 32 linked by a crank to the fly wheel 30is caused to move downwardly toward the strip material which is guidedon a strip supporting anvil block 34 by guides 35. The ram 32 carries adie plate 36 having downwardly opening die openings 3 positioned overthe strip material 24. The die plate 36 also has a pair of downwardlyprojecting pins 40 carried in vertical passages 41 and biased downwardlytherein by springs 39 to engage against the strip material.

As the ram 32 moves down, a downwardly depending post 42 engages apivotally mounted crank arm 44 which rotates about pivot pin 46 andwhich is pivotally and slidably connected to a punch pin carrier 48. Thepunch pin carrier 48 carries a plurality of upwardly projecting punchpins 50 guided in the anvil block 34 in passages 52 which align with dieopenings 38 in the die plate 36. Thus, as the ram moves downwardly, thepost 42 engages the crank arm 44 and causes the punch pins 50 to moveupwardly along the passages 52 and to strike the underneath side of thestrip material 24 so as to deform the strip material as illustrated inFIGS. 3 and 11. The die plate 36 is mounted by springs 54 so as toabsorb upward movement of the punch pins 50 against the die plate 36.

A pair of second pins 53 are also carried by the punch pin carrier 48,which pins 53 align with passages 41 in the die plate 36. These secondpins 53 pierce through the strip material 24 to form indexing holestherein.

As the ram 32 travels upwardly, the die plate 36 is moved away from thestrip material 24 and, a spring 56 pulls the punch pin carrier 48downwardly to retract the punch pins 50 from the strip material 24 sothat the strip material may be moved through the punching station. Thesprings 39 press the pins 40 downwardly, ejecting the punched materialof the index holes from the die plate 36. Thus, at this station aplurality (preferably four) raised contour areas 57 are formed in thecarrier strip material, comprising four raised circular areas. Thepurpose of these raised areas is described below in the section relatingto the molding process. Also, two indexing holes are simultaneouslyformed to assure consistent and accurate positioning of all carrierstrip material features and assembly components. The strip material 24is then indexed a sufficient amount to provide new material in thecontour forming station for sequentially forming additional raised areasand indexing holes.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the strip material is indexed toward a shankinsertion station 60, which station is shown in greater detail in FIGS.5-7. Preformed button shanks 62 having a pair of legs 64 depending froman enlarged head portion 66 are held in supply reservoirs 68 and areincrementally supplied through feeding means 70 to a retaining head 72.In the preferred embodiment illustrated, four button shanks are held inthe retaining head 72 at one time. The two separate feeding means 70each incrementally deliver two spaced apart shanks 62 on slides 73. Theretaining head 72 is reciprocable toward and away from the stripmaterial 24 which is horizontally positioned on a top surface of a block74 by guides 75. The block 74 has four vertical passages 76 therein forreciprocably receiving four vertical pins 78. The pins 78 are carried ona pin carrier 80 which is supported on an arm 22, being pivotallyconnected thereto by pivot pin 84 The arm 82 is pivotally connected at86 to a second, lower arm 88 which in turn is pivotally mounted on asupport block 90. A pneumatic or hydraulic plunger 92 is connected tothe lower arm 88 to cause the lower arm to pivot on the support member90, thus alternatively lowering and raising arm 82, thus lowering andraising pins 78. The pins 78 each have a pocket 94 formed at a top endthereof. The shank retaining head 72 is movable toward the stripmaterial 24 and normally holds four button shanks 62 such that the legs64 protrude from a bottom edge 96 of the retainer 72. The heads 66 areretained above the bottom edge 96. As the retainer 72 moves downwardly,the pins 78 are pressed upwardly to engage and support the raisedportions of the strip material 24 as the button shank legs 64 are driventhrough the strip material 24. The bottom edge 96 of the retaining head72 engage the raised portion 57 of the strip material 24, thus stoppingfurther downward movement of the retainer 72 and the shank heads 66 arethus positioned above the surface of the strip material 24. The gap thusprovided between the shank heads and the strip material is initiallyprovided by a die stop 97 at this shank insertion station. The finaldepth control is provided by a shank positioning ram 98 that pushes thehead to the proper depth for molding as best seen in FIG. 6. As theretaining head 72 moves up and away from the strip material 24, thebutton shanks are released so that they are held in the strip material24 as shown in FIG. 10 and the pins 78 are withdrawn downwardly so as topermit the legs to move unhindered through a groove 100 formed in theblock 74. The strip material 24 is then incrementally moved to presentfour new raised portions 57 to the shank insertion device 60.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the strip material 24 is then indexed toward amolding device 110 which includes a lower support block 112 forsupporting a bottom side of the strip material 24. An upper mold member114 is movable downwardly to engage with the strip material 24 and hasfour downwardly opening mold cavities 116 (FIG. 9), each of which have apassage 118 therein for injection of a plastic material. The mold member114 engages the top surface of the strip material 24, annularly spacedfrom the raised contour areas 57, the strip material thus forming aportion of the mold. The head 66 of the button shank 62, being elevatedabove the top surface of the strip material 24, and, more particularly,above the raised contour area, thus receives plastic material in asurrounding manner such that a plastic cap 120 (FIG. 8) is formedcompletely enclosing and encapsulating the head.

It is not necessary for the head of the shank to be completelyencapsulated by plastic during the molding process, but it is necessarythat a portion of the underside of the head be enclosed within theplastic to assure that the plastic cap 120 will be securely retained onthe shank head 66. Thus, the head 66 need only have a portion of itswidth raised above the carrier strip material.

Several alternative embodiments of headed shanks are illustrated inFIGS. 12a, 12b, 12c-1, 12c-2, 12d, 13a, and 13b which have only aportion of the shank head in an elevated position. For example, FIG. 12ashows a shank 62a with two legs 64a and a head 66a formed with fourseparate elevated wing portions 66a'. FIG. 12b shows a shank 62b withtwo legs 64b and a head 66b formed with two spaced and continuous widthwing portions 66b'. FIGS. 12c-1 and 12c-2 show a shank 62c with two legs64c and a head 66c formed with a central apertured raised portion66b''which can receive a charge of plastic in the underside of theraised portion. FIG. 12d shows a shank 62d with at least one leg 64d anda head 66d formed with an undercut portion 66d' which may be annular ifthe head 66d is circular, or may be two spaced apart undercut portions66d'. FIG. 13a shows a shank 63a with one central hollow and open leg65a and a head 67a formed with an undercut portion 67a' and covered by acrimped cap 67a". FIG. 13b shows a shank 63b with one central hollow,but closed leg 65b and a head 67b formed with an undercut portion 67b'and covered by a crimped cap 67b". The positions of these variousembodiments relative to the carrier strip material 24 are represented bythe FIGS. 8a, 9a and 10a, wherein a portion of the head 66a (forexample) is in direct contact with the strip material and a portion iselevated above the strip material. Namely, the various embodiments asshown in FIGS. 12a-12d and 13a and 13b need not have the entire width ofthe head elevated above the strip material for the purpose of receivinga change of plastic under the head.

As the mold member 114 is moved upwardly away from engagement with thestrip material 24, after the plastic has been injected into the moldcavity 116, the strip material 24 can then be incrementally advancedaway from the molding station and eventually will be indexed to astation wherein the plastic capped shank will be removed from the stripmaterial The raised contour areas 57 form a recessed area 121 at a lowerside of the capped shank (FIG. 8) which allows the button head to beattached closer to the fabric in use. Of course it is not necessary tohave the recess and therefore the raised contour areas 57 on the carrierstrip material are not critical to the present invention.

With respect to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 13a and 13b, it is alsoclear that the invention is not limited to shanks having pointed legsthat can be driven into the carrier strip material. If the invention isembodied in a headed eyelet as shown in FIG. 13a or a headed hollowshank as shown in FIG. 13b, the strip material 24 needs to be providedwith a plurality of rows of holes prior to the shank insertion step, andpreferably during the carrier strip material forming or shaping step.The holes should be equal to or slightly smaller than the diameter ofthe leg (65a or 65b) of the button shank (63a or 63b). Thereafter, allof the same steps are followed as described above.

Thus, it is seen that the present invention provides a method andapparatus for forming a capped shank by an injection molding processwherein the shank is carried by a strip material in a preciseorientation to be elevated in a mold cavity such that the plasticmaterial will be injected into the mold cavity to completely encase thehead of the button shank. As a result, a plastic headed button isprovided having the plastic head completely molded onto and encompassingthe metal head of the button shank such that the plastic cap cannot beremoved from the button shank without destruction thereof.

As is apparent from the foregoing specification, the invention issusceptible of being embodied with various alterations and modificationswhich may differ particularly from those that have been described in thepreceding specification and description. It should be understood that wewish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all suchmodifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of ourcontribution to the art.

We claim as our invention:
 1. An apparatus for applying a plastic cap toa shank, wherein said shank has a head and at least one leg comprising:acarrier member having a surface; a shank insertion device having meansfor removably inserting said leg of said shank into said carrier membersuch that at least a portion of said head of said shank is elevatedabove said surface; a molding device having means for molding plasticcaps onto said head of said shank; and means for drawing said carriermember and feeding it to said shank insertion device and molding device.2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said carrier membercomprises a continuous elongated roll of strip material rotatablycarried on a support frame.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 1,wherein said means for molding comprises an open cavity that isengageable with said carrier member to form a closed cavity with saidcarrier member.
 4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said meansfor removably inserting inserts a plurality of shanks at a time ontosaid carrier member.
 5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein saidmeans for molding molds a plurality of caps onto said shanks at a time.6. An apparatus according to claim 1, further including a contourforming device having means for forming at least one raised contour insaid carrier member prior to insertion of said shank, and said means forremovably inserting acts to insert said leg of said shank into saidraised contour of said carrier member.
 7. An apparatus according toclaim 6, wherein said raised contour is circular shaped and said meansfor removably inserting inserts a single shank into each raised contour.8. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said means for formingforms a plurality of contours at a time on said carrier member.
 9. Anapparatus according to claim 3, wherein said carrier member is arrangedwith said surface facing said open cavity, said open cavity is definedby a wall fashioned to flushly abut said surface enclosing said headtherein, and said cavity provides an injection port through said walldefining said cavity for injecting plastic into said cavity.
 10. Anapparatus according to claim 1, wherein said means for removablyinserting comprises:a retaining head holding at least one shank thereinand having a bottom edge, said head of said shank retained elevated fromsaid bottom edge, and said leg of said shank protruding downwardly ofsaid bottom edge; a platform holding the carrier member thereon in ahorizontal arrangement, said platform providing pockets therein arrangedbeneath said carrier member and vertically aligned with said leg of saidshank, said retaining head reciprocally movable toward said platformwith said bottom edge abutable to said surface.
 11. An apparatusaccording to claim 10, wherein said platform provides a block having avertical passage holding at least one vertical pin therein, saidvertical pin reciprocally movable through said vertical passage towardsaid carrier member, said pocket being formed in said vertical pin, saidvertical pin and said bottom edge adapted to clamp said carrier membertherebetween.
 12. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein saidapparatus further comprises a contour forming device having means forforming a raised contour in said carrier member prior to insertion ofsaid shank, and said means for inserting inserts said leg of said shankinto said raised contour of said carrier member, said vertical pinshaped to interfit into said raised contour and to support an undersideof said raised contour during insertion of said leg into said carriermember.
 13. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said carriermember comprises a deformable material and said means for formingcomprises:an upper ram portion; a die plate having at least onedownwardly opening die opening, said die plate mounted to said upper ramportion; and a supporting anvil block having at least one verticalpassage therethrough, said supporting anvil block holding said carriermember thereon, said upper ram portion arranged above said carriermember and reciprocally movable toward said supporting anvil block; andat least one punch pin reciprocally movable through said verticalpassage in said anvil block toward said carrier member, said punch pinaligned with said die opening, said punch pin arranged to movevertically upward toward said downwardly moving die opening and arrangedto deform said carrier member into said die opening to form said raisedcontour.
 14. An apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said carriermember is arranged with said surface facing said open cavity, and saidopen cavity is fashioned to flushly abut said surface surrounding saidhead and said raised contour therein, and said cavity provides aninjection port through a wall of said cavity for injecting plastic intosaid cavity.
 15. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said meansfor removably inserting comprises:a retaining head holding at least oneshank therein and having a bottom edge, said head of said shank retainedelevated from said bottom edge, and said leg of said shank protrudingdownwardly of said bottom edge; a platform holding the carrier memberthereon in a horizontal arrangement, said platform providing pocketstherein arranged beneath said carrier member and vertically aligned withsaid leg of said shank, said retaining head reciprocally movable towardsaid platform with said bottom edge abutable to said surface.
 16. Anapparatus according to claim 15, wherein said platform provides a blockhaving a vertical passage holding at least one pin therein, saidvertical pin reciprocally movable through said vertical passage towardsaid carrier member, said pocket being formed in said vertical pin, saidvertical pin and said bottom edge adapted to clamp said carrier membertherebetween.
 17. An apparatus according to claim 16, wherein saidvertical pin is shaped to interfit into said raised contour and tosupport an underside of said raised contour during insertion of said legthrough said carrier member.